Doctor Who series 9: latest trailer breakdown

So, another trailer, another reason to slump in disappointment or dance excited dances of delight, complete with giddy handclaps. Or somewhere in between. All are valid, but if you’re reading this, you’re probably erring somewhere towards the enthused anticipation and leg shaking: Doctor Who is coming back on September the 19^th. It’s going to have pictures and noises, and we’ve got proof of this here:

We’ve gone through this trailer with wide-eyed alacrity and, what’s more, we’ve noticed some things. We suspect you have too. Let’s share.

 

Peter Capaldi looks worried here, but then this trailer has a fair few new monsters on the last one we saw. However, he’s not worried about being a good man or saying ‘Into Darkness’ like a man in a trailer anymore. This is a series about two friends going on adventures.

The Doctor now knows he’s a man who saves people, and when he announces this the trailer cuts to Clara surrounded by Daleks, eminently saveable. Compared with the Sixties’ Dalek cities, this one looks fairly minimalist at times, but then we have shots like this:

Which has a lovely old fashioned hue to it, and, as briefly glimpsed last time, some old-fashioned Daleks. I have nothing to say other than they look fantastic. We now have confirmation of things we suspected after the first trailer: it is a Dalek city, and there is going to be another reunion:

Missy is back, and working with the Daleks again after Frontier In Space. We see her here going even further than Tex Richman with her manical laugh, possibly uttered at the memory of the Dalek voices in the TV Movie. So, this could be from the first story of the series. We know Missy is back for that two-parter, and now it looks like it might have retro Daleks thrown in as well. Has this happened enough for it to qualify as a Moffat Trope, do we think? Like, say, having the word ‘Girl’ in an episode title?

Here’s a picture of Maisie Williams looking like she’s planning to steal Jenna Coleman’s job. This, then is likely to be from The Girl Who Died, and from their clothing we can deduce that we’re going to be seeing these space Vikings and their robotic hench-creatures in this episode.

I’m picking up a fair hint of The Pirate Planet from this one. It’s the eye-patch that does it, even if there’s no robotic parrots to be seen. However there is some other wildlife. Inkeeping with the Key to Time vibe, we also have:

Space Viking Shrivenzale! So. Big ol’ robotic things and serpents. There’s a lot going on in this episode, assuming it is just the one episode. I assumed initially that this second, very different, image of Maisie Williams was from The Woman Who Lived:

But perhaps Maisie William’s role is larger than we’ve been led to believe, extending throughout the series. Perhaps not, it’s not as if we don’t occasionally get monsters in trailers who only feature briefly in the final episode. The serpent attacking the Viking’s shield collection may only be a figurative red herring. However, we’re getting away from a very pressing issue: what is that louche-looking lion man doing, and why can he do this?

Thank God cats can’t do really do that. Or can they? Best not think about it. Instead think about what this creature – the one whose story is ending, according to the Doctor – is doing re-enacting the video to Michael Jackson’s Earth Song.

Is it at all tied in with the undersea base episode we’ve seen in previous trailers? Perhaps Toby Whithouse’s two parter changes setting and tone between episodes, and goes onland. Bringing with it these Pan’s Labyrinth-esque creatures:

I’m calling them Hand Monoids. This is almost certainly not what they’ll be called on screen. Creepy visual though, looking forward to seeing how they turn out. On top of the other monsters we saw in the previous trailer, this looks like a pretty good season in terms of new designs and attempts to terrify the audience, balanced with returning monsters. I like not knowing what the monsters are. For example, I have basically no idea what this is:

It’s a figure in a white cloak stalking corridors, and it looks like the White Guardian’s had his body stolen. Could be anything. It’s great not knowing. This last image, however, I suspect may be from Peter Harness’ Zygon two-parter.

Clara looks very pleased with herself, but not in the usual way. Zygon duplicate, anyone? Or possibly just a raid of UNIT’s Avengers cosplay cupboard. Either way, people are already hoping the action figure for this one comes with a bazooka that actually fires tiny missiles, like you used to get with the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle model that came out in the Nineties.

Distracted as we were by Captain Scarlet toys, we might have missed something. We’re only human. Let us know in the comments rather than following us in the street and shouting. Anyway, here’s Peter Capaldi’s stunt double diving out of a window.

Doctor Who returns to BBC One on Saturday the 19th of September.

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